Cheers mate

First of all, I would like to share with you a phrase embedded in a story that is very common in England, in what we call everyday "casual" English.

This is "Cheers" or "Cheers mate". In my previous language learning, I learned that it is actually used in English as the equivalent of "Cheers!" when toasting. This is true, however, living there I have found that it is said as a very loose version of "Thank you" in most places. "Cheers mate" is something like "Thanks mate". When I went into a fast food shop I noticed a phenomenon where, after receiving the food, the customer would simply say "Cheers mate". It was almost the equivalent of a thank you and goodbye at the same time.

I heard this phrase very often, every single day really, at work, in shops, on the street etc. It's a basic phrase there, but one that you don't learn when you're learning a language, so it seemed strange to me at first, but it quickly stuck with me in that language environment.

It might be useful to keep this in mind and use it with the other English people together.

Cheers,

Dani